Plain Dealer fileWhile these two ladies enjoy soaking up the sun at a beach near Cleveland, the opportunities have been fewer this summer than in previous years. In fact, dozens of cities set cold-weather records for July 2009, according to the National Weather Service.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Record or near-record cold swept much of the middle part of the nation in July -- with some records being broken from the 1860s -- but a late-month rally in Northeast Ohio left the area barely in the top 20 for coldest July on record.

Other areas -- from Cincinnati to Madison, Wis. -- broke cold records and even Ohio cities such as Akron, Toledo, Youngstown, Columbus and Dayton came close to their historic marks.

"We still haven't figured that one out yet," said meteorologist Mark Adams at the National Weather Service station at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. "Everyone around us was in the top five or 10 coldest months on record and we finished 18th, but we really don't know why exactly."

Cleveland's average temperature in July was 69.9 degrees -- still two full degrees below normal (71.9) for the month, but well off the chilly pace set by the summer of 1960 at 67.6 degrees.

But more than 1,100 daily record low temperatures were broken in July nationwide, according to figures at the National Climatic Data Center reported today by AccuWeather. An additional 1,200 stations tied records.

States in the Northeast and Midwest reported low temperatures that dropped down into the 50s and 40s in July -- with 36 degrees reported in Michigan.

Records were broken or nearly fell in other Ohio and Great Lakes communities.

Youngstown and Mansfield both endured the second-coldest July in more than 100 years of record keeping. Youngstown's average was 67.4 degrees, just a shade over the 67 set in 2000, while Mansfield's average was 67.1, second only to the 66.6 of 1947.

Akron had its fifth-coldest July on record at 68.1 degrees. The record July monthly average of 67.6 was set in 1904.

A July record were set in Cincinnati (70.1 degrees - 6.2 degrees below normal), Columbus had its fourth-coldest July (4.7 degrees below normal) and Dayton had its second-coldest July. Dayton's mark was colder than the weather in Cleveland at 69.6 degrees, or 4.7 below normal.

Records were also set in Michigan cities of Flint and Saginaw, while Detroit had its third-coldest July in more than 100 years.

Indianapolis had its second-coldest July on record, behind only 1947.

Chicago had its ninth-coldest, but second coldest since its weather station moved further away from Lake Michigan in 1942.

"It was quite a month all over the region, mostly because the jet stream was dipping down into the lower Great Lakes," Adams said.

But the all-important jet stream is just about to shift.

"It looks like it should stay farther north -- in the upper lakes," Adams said. "That should allow us to have some very warm days through at least next week sometime.

"That should be good news for people who like going to the beach, but it's also a trade-off because you also might need to use your air conditioner more."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.